Good day, and welcome to the KBR, Inc. fourth quarter 2021 earnings conference call. This call is being recorded. As a reminder, your lines will be in a listen-only mode for the duration of the call. There will be a question and answer session immediately following prepared remarks. You will receive instructions at that time. For opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the call over to Alison Vasquez, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Orlando. Good morning, and thank you for attending KBR's fourth quarter and fiscal year 2021 earnings call. Joining me today are Stuart Bradie, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Mark Sopp, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Stuart and Mark will provide highlights from the quarter and the year and then open the call for your questions. Today's earnings presentation is available on the investor section of our website at kbr.com. This discussion includes forward-looking statements reflecting KBR's views about future events and their potential impact on performance, as outlined on slide two These matters involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ significantly from these forward-looking statements, as discussed in our most recent Form 10-K, also available on our website. I will now turn the call over to Stuart.
Thank you, Alison, and thank you all for joining us and for your interest in KBR. I will start on slide four. Now you've seen these before. Here are the ESG pillars of our Zero Harm program. I think year-ends are a good time to look back, and I'm pleased to report that we've made good progress across each of the pillars as we move towards our net zero goal. I highlighted some key data points on slide five , which we'll touch on now. These really build on the inclusion and diversity metrics we spotlighted last quarter. We're very proud to have achieved carbon neutrality for a second consecutive year on a path towards net zero carbon by 2030. From a health and safety perspective, we again had a stellar year, and we continue to set the gold standard for Zero Harm days and incident rates.
Our people are doing some amazing stuff, really great things across the communities in which we live and work, a really core part of who KBR is. As I've said many, many times, at KBR, our commitment to sustainability goes beyond and includes leveraging our IP and expertise to help others achieve their sustainability goals, thus creating value for all our stakeholders. This is evidenced in over 30% of our revenue base that is directly linked to sustainability. Our people-centered Zero Harm culture is at the heart of KBR, and it's been really, really rewarding for our people to see many external recognitions of our progress in these important areas, some of which we've included here. I think a key takeaway here of these unsolicited recognitions are they're really, really helpful in both retention and recruitment.
These are only a few highlights for us from our sustainability report, which you know was issued in late 2021. With ESG increasing in importance across the investment community and in fact, the world at large, I would encourage you to read our sustainability report, which of course is on our website, as it not only describes in detail the importance of ESG at KBR and our culture, but it also showcases that ESG at KBR aligns with shareholder value. On to slide six and some highlights and key takeaways. I'm gonna start by talking about KBR and some distinct differentiators that served us very, very well for many years, again in Q4 and of course, throughout 2021 and beyond. Firstly, we have a significant base load of long-term contracts across our portfolio, both domestically and importantly, internationally.
That allows us to have confidence in long-term targets and avoid downside volatility. Our people are embedded in mission-critical activities, doing things that really, really matter. Secondly, our international footprint again gives greater diversity and mitigates downside volatility. Thirdly, our Sustainable Tech business is a true growth engine and hugely margin accretive, as you know. I think we've proven this in 2021. Fourthly, strategically, our businesses are positioned to take advantage of increased spending and market tailwinds. Finally, our people and culture, as far as I'm concerned, are simply amazing, and our people deliver quarter after quarter. Why do I highlight these differentiators? Because regardless of COVID, CR, labor market, geopolitical shifts, our significantly de-risked business model and our people have proven resilient consistently. In Q4, we performed. In 2021, we performed across the core business, delivering growth, margin improvement, and importantly, stellar cash.
There's been quite a bit of discussion on OAW and for good reason, but I'd like to reiterate that our core business really performed. On OAW itself, which was a Herculean effort and a significant humanitarian mission that we're all super proud of at KBR, this was in line with expectation. Our ability to ramp up, to mobilize, and then demobilize complex and sizable supply chains very rapidly and deliver in high-pressure environments is a real value add to our customers, the missions we serve, and of course, our shareholders. In short, 2021 was a strong year. As we know, that is now history, and you are more interested in tomorrow. I think a good indicator of how the business will perform tomorrow is of course, book-to-bill.
Our bookings were strong across Government Solutions, Sustainable Technology Solutions as a whole, and especially in heritage tech, which is quite telling, as you're aware. The quality of the work we are winning is aligned with our shift to higher-end, differentiated, and margin-accretive work, so we're very, very pleased. More detail on this in a sec, but this all lines up to underscoring continued momentum into 2022 and beyond. With strong cash generation and a healthy balance sheet, capital deployment is of course a priority. I think 2021 was a model for balance across organic growth, M&A, and return of capital to shareholders with expanded dividends and continued share repurchases. On the M&A front, I actually just spent a week traveling across the U.K., meeting our new colleagues at Frazer-Nash, which we acquired, if you remember, last October.
This business has an amazing brand and even more amazing culture of technical expertise with a collaborative model that really delivers innovation in ways I think that can make all of KBR better. More on this in a moment. We head into 2022 with significant amount of work under contract, well over 70%, with growth, earnings, and cash all in line with our 2025 targets. Obviously, more on guidance later from Mark, but 2022 is shaping up to be a great year also. On to slide seven and the outlook for Government Solutions. On the left, there's really nothing new. The spending priorities and investment areas remain as per the first bullet, and all for the reasons we have discussed recently.
We do not see these changing anytime soon, especially with heightening tensions internationally. While it feels a little bit early to talk about 2023 defense budgets in the midst of a 2022 CR, early indications based on reports last week indicate a national defense budget that could top $800 billion, which includes a nice 4% bump for DoD, which is great. If the spending priorities are a leading indicator, then the bookings in those areas are of course the lagging indicators, really proving out these priorities. As you can see, in 2021, award value plus options for Government Solutions was $6.7 billion, with a Q4 book-to-bill of 1.3. Some highlights through 2021 just to give you a feel for the types of work we are winning.
In our defense systems engineering business, we talk a lot about contract vehicles that really facilitate getting onto contract early for critical high-end work. IAC MAC, which we've talked about a lot, is a great example. Multiple awards, mainly due to size, et cetera, we don't really talk about individually. Collectively, on this contract vehicle alone, we were awarded over $800 million in 2021. That was similar in 2020 and certainly more to come in 2022. I think a great demonstration there. Strategically, we moved upmarket in the U.K. with Frazer-Nash, and this is at a time of change for the U.K. MOD as it comes to terms with Brexit, cyber, and importantly, the changing threat environment. The pipeline in Frazer-Nash is looking really, really good for 2022.
Our science and space business had a stellar year, delivering across the portfolio in civil and commercial space, health and human performance, and mission IT, with strong on-contract growth and margin performance. Of course, we won some interesting new work along the way, including a significant multi-year contract to provide high-end engineering services for space flight and ground systems won by KBR JV. There's actually a number of bids in flight at the moment as we head into 2022 due for award. We could, of course, not fail to mention OAW in the context of 2021, but in 2022, the ramp down has been as quick as the ramp up, if not quicker, as families and individuals have been placed into society by state. Our guidance for 2022 will include an OAW tail, but it's not material.
Of course, the directed energy program advanced well through the year and continues into 2022, and I'm sure there's more to come on that as we progress through the year. On to slide eight, and we'll touch on the STS market outlook. Again, nothing I suspect you have not seen here. The market drivers are robust, and recent activity levels in ammonia in particular were very high, where KBR actually won all the announced greenfield awards we bid in 2021, with bookings across the green, blue and gray ammonia landscape just terrific. A strong and growing pipeline of pursuits gives us great confidence into the future. Political will and policy around climate change, not to mention societal pressure, is real and not going away.
As we mentioned last quarter, the increase in oil and gas prices recognizes the supply-demand imbalance and means increased spending capacity for traditional energy companies. I'm sure lots have been talking about that. This allows clients, of course, to restart capital projects, and we're seeing that, and increase investments to decarbonize, improve energy efficiency, improve end product flexibility, and invest in energy transition projects, all of which are bang on KBR's wheelhouse of technology and expertise. With over $1 billion in bookings over the year and a Q4 book-to-bill of 1.1 across the STS portfolio, this sets us up nicely for double-digit growth in 2022, all in line with our targets. Now remember, we had $150 million of low-margin reimbursable EPCs still being worked off in 2021 that make this book-to-bill even more impressive.
As a strong indicator of continued high-end growth with increasing margins, the book to bill for Heritage Tech was a terrific 1.4 in Q4. As we've said often, the activity levels across the portfolio have and continue to be high, whether that be in plastics recycling, which has actually delivered more opportunities than we expected, to olefins and green refining, where we have won significant multi-year work, to high-end engineering in areas like hydrogen and decarbonization. The transition of this business, its focus on sustainability and the resultant performance in 2021 have frankly been amazing, but it's only the beginning. This takes us nicely onto slide nine. Our 2021 awards and group book to bill of 1.2 in Q4 are a good near-term indicator. For the longer term, we of course need to look at the pipeline of opportunities.
Does the pipeline match the outlook? You can see on the slide here that hopefully the scale, the lack of concentration risk, multiple opportunities that are $100 million plus, and a sizable cadre of needle movers over $1 billion proves this out. Oh, and to be clear, our pipeline and our booking numbers exclude the HomeSafe Alliance, which you're aware is under protest. Lots to look forward to. With our performance in 2021, which is terrific, the growth and resiliency of our core business, our hugely differentiated large base load of work, the robust market outlook for our specific areas of business, a strong book-to-bill and pipeline, we once more reaffirm our 2025 targets.
With that, I will now hand over to Mark Sopp, who will take you through the numbers in a bit more detail, cover capital deployment, and of course, the detailed guide for 2022. Mark Sopp.
Great. Thank you, Stuart. Thanks everyone for joining us this morning. I'll pick up on slide 11, which provides a snapshot of our financial performance for fiscal 2021. As Stuart has already stated, 2021 was really a terrific year overall, with revenues, profits and cash flow all exceeding our original plan, and also on or above pace relative to our long-term targets. When you step back and look at these charts, it is important to recognize the setting. Just last year, right in the middle of the pandemic, we embarked on a bold set of changes in our business. We undertook the largest ever acquisition to advance into the intelligence community and military space at scale, and we de-risked and repositioned our commercial business opposite growing demand for sustainable technologies and solutions.
Both changes were designed to reorient KBR towards higher end, more differentiated offerings, aligned with attractive growing end markets, and also with higher margins and attractive free cash flow. The numbers and trends here speak for themselves relative to how our operations and our people have made this transition hugely successful. Amazing. Revenue and earnings were amplified by rising to the occasion to meet the urgent humanitarian requirements associated with Operation Allies Welcome, OAW, which delivered revenue and margins generally in line with our previous guide. I'll highlight here that even with the dilutive impact of OAW to margins, it was about 50 basis points dilutive to operating margin. We achieved our EBITDA margin goal of 9% for the year due to excellent performance across both GS and STS. The volume increases and strong margins across KBR resulted in adjusted EBITDA growth of over 30%.
When coupled with normative below-the-line items, adjusted EPS grew 40% for the year, far more than our initial guide and long-term targets. Ex-OAW, adjusted EPS growth was still in the low 20% range. Cash flow grew nicely and consistent with the steady and up expectations that we set attendant to our strategy. Backlog and options were up, reflecting a strong Q4 book-to-bill and amounting to really good work under our contract coverage for 2022, which of course underpins the growth we have in our guidance that I'll cover here in a moment. Slide 12 shows the results by segment, and this has been a consistent story all year.
No surprises here relative to our expectations, other than of course the amplification of GS results from OAW, which, you know, started kicking in in late Q2 and really in Q3 and very much so in Q4. We have continued to see good growth across GS and importantly, margins at 10% before the impact of OAW, just as we set out to do. Margins in GS continue to reflect first and foremost, excellent project execution. Hats off to our operations heroes who deliver solutions to advance our clients' missions every day, with vital recompete wins this year, strong CPAR performance scores. That's the government's methodology for objectively measuring contractor performance, and award fee scores in challenging technical areas that reflect very high customer satisfaction, really high scores by our team across the board here.
This type of commitment to deliver yields strong margins across our base. This includes Centauri, whose margins were on track, and also as has been the case for years now, continued double-digit margins from our international operations, which are significant in the overall mix, as you know. Over to STS. What an enormous achievement by this team. They navigated delivering the ramp down of legacy projects, all as planned, and explaining the year-over-year revenue reduction while producing real growth in much higher margin areas in accordance with the sustainable tech strategy. EBITDA grew a stunning 72% to almost $200 million, with margins at 16% for the year, coupled with excellent cash flow.
As we set out to do, this business has low capital intensity, attractive growth prospects, protected IP, which is in strong demand, and serves multiple market verticals to pivot across faster growth areas as those evolve. I'll also point out the continued positive developments on Mura and our exclusive partnership with their Hydro-PRT plastics recycling technology. In 2021, we secured multiple license contracts for new facilities using this technology well above our expectations and have won numerous feasibility and initial engineering efforts for clients around the world. Very important clients, blue chips. Mura has continued to receive equity investments from some of its blue-chip partners, including a recent round well above the valuation of our investment one year ago. We booked a gain of $3.5 million in Q4 related to this valuation appreciation, which we excluded from adjusted EPS.
With STS comprising nearly 30% of consolidated contribution margin and with a higher expected growth rate, it is clearly much more than a kicker, as we once described in our portfolio. Indeed, STS is core to KBR. It is positioned to drive an outsized contribution to economic value creation. Quite frankly, we couldn't be more delighted. On to slide 13. We have continued to improve our scale, our financial strength, and have demonstrated a balanced capital deployment strategy. In 2021, we improved our credit rating again, now up two notches in three years. We leveraged this development to renegotiate our credit facility to achieve lower pricing, increased capacity, ease investment restrictions, and other attributes. In the fall, we used stranded cash to pay for a substantial portion of the Frazer-Nash acquisition. As Stuart mentioned that earlier, really excited about that team.
That put cash to work in a much more accretive way for us. Taking this all in 2021, we supported high organic growth. We made over $400 million in acquisitions. We completed over $80 million in stock buybacks, increased our dividends by 10% from the previous year. Yet all the while, we kept our leverage ratio about the same, 2.5x, which I think speaks volumes for the power of the cash flow in our business. In 2021, we outpaced our long-term targets, and as we'll discuss in a moment, we expect continued growth and financial strength in 2022 and beyond. Consistent with our capital deployment strategy, which includes paying an attractive dividend, we are pleased to announce another dividend increase for the third year in a row.
Starting in 2022, our regular quarterly dividend will increase 9% to $0.12 per quarter, $0.48 for the year, which represents a 50% increase in our regular dividend since 2019. Now on to slide 14 and our initial 2022 guidance. Upfront, our guidance keeps us on track with the long-term targets we set last March and excludes, as Stuart said, the effects of HomeSafe Alliance, given its protest status. We expect revenues in the $6.3 billion-$6.8 billion range, up 14% at the midpoint when excluding the bump we had in 2021 from OAW, obviously a non-recurring event. Adjusted EBITDA margin is guided at 10% of revenues, reflecting improvement from 9% in 2021.
The 10% overall guidance for 2022 is consistent with our long-term targets, where GS is relatively steady and STS is expected to improve core margins 1%-2% per year from both scale and mix. We expect steady tax rates and are guiding adjusted EPS of $2.45-$2.60, up 4% from 2021 at the midpoint, but that's up 20% excluding the impacts from OAW, the blip we had in 2021 from that important engagement, 20%. Together with the 40% growth in EPS in 2021, we're tracking at the top end of our long-term targeted 2025 EPS CAGR of 15%-20%.
Adjusted operating cash flow continues to rise nicely, and we are guiding a range of $350 million-$400 million for 2022 on pace with long-term targets and demonstrating continued flow of incremental capital deployment firepower. This reflects conversion rates of above 1x for net income to adjusted operating cash flow and adjusted free cash flow. The only adjustment that we're making here is the repayment of the CARES Act deferred payable tax item of $30 million. You'll recall we kept the original benefit of that outside of our adjusted EPS and also the repayment the same. In summary, we really had a remarkable financial performance for the year, and with the improved financial strength, the value creation opportunities for KBR continue to expand once again.
We're pleased to give shareholders another bump up in dividends, and with a net debt at 2.5x coupled with strong cash flows such as this, capital for M&A and/or buybacks is quite meaningful going forward. We expect to continue to deploy capital in a balanced fashion over the long term and will be very disciplined, continue to be very disciplined to pursue actions which are in line with our growth strategy, our risk tolerance, and also for the compelling investment thesis of KBR, which I think we've demonstrated. That's my wrap for 2021. We look forward to an exciting 2022. I certainly hope you're along with us for the ride, and I'll turn it back over to Stuart.
Thank you, Mark, and great job once again. On to slide 15 to wrap things up. I will let you read the words on the slide, but for me, I think today's prepared remarks highlight a business that has and continues to perform, really perform. A business strategically positioned in attractive markets of the future, but with some additional facets. Firstly, clear differentiators, an international footprint, significant long-term base of business, a unique and high-performing technology growth engine, as Mark covered, and a business model that is low risk, resilient, and cash generative. Secondly, we have a track record of consistently delivering quarter after quarter, year upon year of meeting or exceeding expectations. We do what we say we're going to do. Thirdly, a business with a people-focused culture. Now we're far from perfect, but we strive to continually do better.
What is not in dispute is that our people are committed to the mission and do things that matter every single day. It's hugely uplifting. We have a strong balance sheet with an unwavering focus on shareholder value, and that gives us options, as you're aware. Fifthly, and increasing in prominence, a highly differentiated ESG position, again, firmly aligned with shareholder value. We made commitments on long-term targets in May 2021, and our 2021 performance and 2022 guidance of our core business, so excluding OAW, are in line with those targets. Thus, as I said before, we have firm confidence to reaffirm our 2025 targets again today. Thank you again for taking the time this morning, and I will now hand it back to the operator, who will open the call up for questions. Thank you. Fernando.
Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. If using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. Once again, everyone, to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. All right, and our first question will come from Tobey Sommer with Truist Securities. Please go ahead.
Thank you. In your 2022 revenue guidance, could you give some color on the components, so organic growth range or maybe provide the midpoint contribution from acquisitions and the OAW contribution, which I think, Stuart, you said was immaterial, but just in terms of calculating the organic growth, it'd be helpful. Thank you.
I think ex-OAW, if you back it out, the last year and this year, organic growth is sitting about 7% at the midpoint.
Okay, that's helpful. Could you tell us what, if any, financial impacts you're thinking about on the company in terms of higher op tempo in Europe and any kind of troop movements? Is that a consequential development for you?
I think, Toby, it's a question we ask ourselves. It's early in that endeavor. There's obviously a lot of classified things going on in that arena. I mean, our EUCOM rate, as you know, we run European Command for LOGCAP V, so we're very well positioned there. Our typical run rates are circa $200 million in that domain in 2021. Yeah, you know, you would expect a little bit of an up tempo in that arena, but I think it's too early to give you any real guide around that. I think it's an unfortunate opportunity, I think is the way I'd describe it.
I mean, no one wants that sort of activity in and around the world. In saying that, we are positioned to support what's going on there. More on that later, I think, Toby, at this juncture.
Thanks. I know we started late. That'll be it from me. I'll get back in the queue.
Thank you.
All right. Up next, we'll hear from Jamie Cook with Credit Suisse. Please go ahead.
Hi. Congrats on a nice quarter. Sorry. Stuart, could you just give an update just on you know, Home Safe, just what's going on there with the protest and when you'll have resolution on that? And if you guys could sort of quantify what that means to the earnings power over time. Then I guess too, my second question would be your confidence sort of in your long-term targets and potentially, you know, having a pathway to exceed those targets with, you know, some of these awards you got that we just spoke about with the ASTRO award and then just better balance sheet and acquisitions, just how you're feeling on the longer term target and when we could get an update there. Thanks.
Yeah. HomeSafe Alliance, the protest is due for conclusion third of March, so we'll know more on that date. Obviously, if we you know if the protest comes in our favor, we will have to probably do a separate call with you, and we'll give you a lot more detail about the ramp up and the timing of HomeSafe Alliance. I mean, it's a considerable procurement for USTRANSCOM, you know, circa $20 billion, as you're aware, over 9.5 years. There is no doubt in my mind that we will have to update our long-term targets if that comes to fruition and obviously we'll be revising them upwards, not downwards, and which is all good.
In terms of that ramp up cadence, I think the nice thing, given the scale, is it ramps up progressively over time. We think it will happen over the course of the first 18 months to 24 months when we embed the organization. I don't think it's gonna be too material in 2022, in truth. We'll get a bit of a kick, but it won't be that material, and that will really start to ramp up. Really will underpin very strong organic growth as we move into 2023 and beyond. Hence our revision of our targets at that time will be appropriate. We'll explain, you know, a bit more detail of the financials and the expected returns from that.
We'll have had a dialogue with the customer on timing of ramp up and things like that. In terms of the, I guess, the business as it stands today, Mark already alluded that we're already tracking to the high end of our 25 targets. You know, I think that, you know, that's a very good fact set just going into this, to the where we are today. I think our book of business really gives us great confidence to achieve at that level. I think and we haven't really talked too much in this call, I'm sure we'll get the question on capital deployment and M&A, et cetera.
There's a lot of activity in the market today, but we've been very, I would say, very disciplined at not paying too much and making sure that we do things that are strategically advantageous to KBR. I'm very confident on the outlook. I'm very upbeat in where we're positioned in the markets we're in. I think we've had an absolutely outstanding 2021. I think better than decent. I would say that we are really sort of heading into 2022 with super confidence and, you know, an underlying core business that's growing nicely and delivering amazing cash returns and EPS performance. You know, that STS business is really knocking it out of the park. I think it all shapes up, Jamie.
I often say it's a great time to be at KBR, and I would just underscore that right now.
Okay. Thank you.
Our next question comes from Jerry Revich with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hi, good morning, everyone.
Good morning, Jerry.
Hi, Stuart, Mark, Alison. I'm wondering if you could talk about the Government Solutions revenue burn outlook for 2022. You know, correct me if I'm wrong, but based on the book-to-bill numbers you've spoken about this year, it looks like you booked about $600 million of Government Solutions orders over the course of 2021. I'm wondering, based on project timing, how quickly do you ramp up revenue burn on those awards? Thanks.
Jerry, you've done some good analysis and your numbers are about right in terms of the bookings, obviously at 1.4 in Q4 to build a terrific indicator of the strength of that market. In terms of the burn off of that, we don't really disclose it at that level. I think that the key piece that I would like you to take away is really the overall STS business, you know, is increasing in its margin mix because of the strength of heritage Government Solutions and other areas we've moved into as we also, you know, we're obviously we will return to true organic growth as we move through 2022 in that business as well as those reimbursable EPCs disappear.
I think that sort of double-digit growth at the revenue base, the increased margin profile, so growth and margin enhancement in that business happening concurrently. It's not often that we can, you know, people can say that, so I think it's a terrific fact pattern. I'd rather you think about it as a holistic performance across STS, but we like to give Government Solutions because, I guess, of the distortion that we've had in 2021 with these larger Heritage EPCs burning off because the revenue growth in the areas we want to grow has been fantastic. So that's why we give that number. If, you know, we'll continue to give you a good indicator of how that business is traveling, obviously, but it's been a.
I think that's probably where I'll stop there, Jerry.
Okay. Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you.
All right, our next question will come from Gautam Khanna with Cowen. Please go ahead.
Gautam, we can't hear you.
Gautam, your line is open. Please go ahead.
Orlando, can we go to the next question and maybe Gautam can join back?
We are at the next question. Okay, we'll move on to Michael Dudas with Vertical Research Partners. Please go ahead.
Good morning, gentlemen, Alison.
Hi, Mike.
Morning. Morning, Michael.
Since you teed it up earlier, Stuart, can you discuss a little bit 2022 on your capital allocation M&A pipeline, given, you know, what you have in front of you and the very solid cash flow guidance you put forth? You know, maybe a sense of what type of investments you can talk about HomeSafe Alliance as you guys ramp that up into 2023 later this year, hopefully into the future.
Yeah, you know, I think we've been very clear that we do have options in front of us. I think the strength of our balance sheet is clear, and, you know, the way that we deploy capital is very balanced with the increase in dividend and as we look to continue with share repurchases, we progress through the year. It's also quite a hot market from an M&A perspective. There's a lot in the market today. I think multiples, you know, maybe heading a little bit south, but there's such a lot of interest in some of these assets that might not be the case.
I think for us that I think one of the key takeaways is that our need to do acquisitions to achieve the high end of our targets in 25, we don't need to do them. I think that's a really cool position to be in for the company, so we can be very considered about what we do and when we do it. I would say that ultimately we've been very clear in our growth vectors and what we think are attractive markets of the future, and we're not gonna move away from that. It's not just about opportunity, and it's not just about, you know, bulking up. It's really about strategic positioning and accelerating up those growth vectors.
I think you will see us, you know, in the M&A market if the opportunities are correct and accretive, and we've said that often, and I think we've proven that out over time. I know that's a bit of a vague answer, Mike, but it's difficult to talk about specific targets, as you know, because of confidentiality. I would say that, you know, for us, we have to make sure that whatever we buy really fits our acquisition thesis, which is one of making sure we look after the people and that we're a very good owner and home for any business we acquire, and we don't wanna see any dip in performance. Ultimately, we want to focus on synergy that's plus one is greater than two.
I think we've proven that out to be a successful model and one we don't want to move away from. It's tough, as you know, finding targets and then secondly, not only finding the targets, but actually getting them for a price that makes sense. Yeah, I think more to come. I think there's an appetite to do M&A. That would be a takeaway as well. Certainly we've got enough capital to deploy to do something meaningful over the course of the year. I'm sure there'll be additional sort of bolt-on opportunities that takes us into new areas or geographies or skill sets. Sorry, I can't be more specific, Mike, but I think it's...
I think the key takeaway is we don't need to do them to achieve the higher end of our growth targets.
Stuart, that's very helpful. My final question would be, as you look into sustainable tech and you highlight the strong book-to-bill going into this year, which areas do you anticipate as you look at the pipeline and the opportunities, which ones will we see a lot more momentum for KBR and their technology over the next couple of quarters heading into 2023? I know it 's maybe a difficult question. You got a lot of stuff going on, but just wanna see which couple areas should investors be focused on where we will see out of KBR moving forward.
Yeah, we highlighted a couple in the prepared remarks, Mike. I think the amount of opportunity and things that are coming through in the ammonia arena are terrific, and that continues. I think you'll see that continuing to have momentum for all the reasons we've discussed around just the growth in the fertilizer market naturally, but also of course the hydrogen future and co-firing and all the dynamics around that market, we've talked about many times. That continues, which is terrific. I think we are seeing, as I said as well, that we you know, the plastic recycling piece has done so much more than we thought, and I'm expecting that to continue as that goes into this year.
I think across the portfolio as the traditional energy companies get more capital, we will start to see them deploying more in energy efficiency and decarbonization and a lot to do with change in product mix. I think we'll see opportunities across our K-COT portfolio and our olefins portfolio to that effect. I think that all lines up to quite a lot of activity as you said, but I think that's probably the key areas that we see going into 2022, at least now. Obviously we'll update you as we move through the quarters.
Thank you, Stuart.
Michael, I'll just add on HomeSafe, it's best that we cover that, as Stuart mentioned earlier, in, you know, if we have a good outcome there, we can talk about that specifically, relative to our targets, but also the capital profile of that which you don't expect any major changes relative to our capital intensity from that. In fact, the terms we expect will be quite favorable over the long haul. It might be a little bit upfront, but nothing to really get worried about.
That makes sense. Thanks, Mark.
Thanks.
All right. Up next, we'll take a question from Gautam Khanna with Cowen. Please go ahead.
Hey, can you hear me guys?
We can, Gautam. How are you doing?
Oh, terrific. Sorry about that earlier. Don't know what happened. Guys, I had two questions. First, I was wondering just given the CR or the continuing resolution, how do you think about bookings at the Government Solutions segment over the course of the next couple quarters? I presume Q1 is gonna be light just given that dynamic. But do you expect like a huge catch up in calendar Q2, calendar Q3 into the fiscal year into the government? Or how should we think about like the cadence just based on, you know, where things-
Yeah.
In terms of.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's a good question, Gautam. As I said in last quarter as we headed to the end of the year that you know that we were quite unique in the fact that we did have things coming through in Q4 that were different to others, and I think that proved itself out with a strong book-to-bill coming into the end of the year. We've got a lot of activity and awards awaiting coming into Q1. You know, those coming out is expected through the first quarter and into the second quarter. If that does happen, then pretty good shape. If the HomeSafe Alliance award comes through in the third of March, I think this will be a moot question.
Right.
I think we do have and we've got obviously you know, a very differentiated position across our commercial business and our international government footprint as well. I think again, that's why I was trying to highlight really at the beginning of my prepared remarks that, you know, regardless of COVID and CR and labor markets, et cetera, we've managed to perform at an above expectation quarter after quarter. The book-to-bill is obviously a big indicator of the future, and we're very focused on winning the right work, of course. There might be some delays. I think there always are under a CR period.
As I understand it, I think that CR will likely resolve itself as the appropriations are, you know, moving. I think it looks like it will be concluded in March, so which will obviously help with bookings going into at least the second quarter.
Mm-hmm. My follow-up would just be on HomeSafe Alliance. Have you guys disclosed anything about kind of the ownership structure besides that it's a JV that you have a majority interest in? Like, have you disclosed the percentage ownership or any of the terms of that?
No, we've not. Gautam, we've not. I think it's so large that we, as we said earlier, we're going to do a separate call on that, assuming that.
Okay.
The protest lands in our favor. Well, it's not so far away now in a couple of weeks time. Yeah, I think look out for that. No, we've not disclosed very much about it other than the overall value. It is a joint venture, and it's over 9-10 years. It all lines up for that very differentiated book of business. It's about, I guess, reframing an industry. It's about digital deployment. It's about managing supply chain. It's right in our wheelhouse in terms of skills and capability and digitalization. In terms of the commercial outcomes, I'm sorry, we haven't disclosed any more than what I've just told you. We will do, obviously, once we get through the protest.
Thanks very much, guys. Good luck.
Thank you.
All right. Up next, we'll hear from Brent Thielman with D.A. Davidson. Please go ahead.
Great. Thank you. Hey, Stuart, on STS, just with you know, higher commodity prices, I'm wondering if that's actually accelerated the pipeline for you maybe versus six months ago. You know, some of those legacy hydrocarbon customers generating more cash, looking to transition faster. I guess I'm just wondering if that's translated into more opportunities already, or is it still early stages and just conversations right now?
No, no, it's translated into a very strong pipeline, Brent. I think, no, I mean, I think we highlighted that that sort of, I guess, market dynamic, as others did as well back in late 2021, coming into Q3, Q4. That's certainly borne out in terms of the way that a customer base is thinking of the future. Our pipeline for opportunities is terrific across the STS portfolio. I think, you know, we've got good confidence of continued double-digit growth in that business as a consequence. I think, yeah, absolutely.
Okay. Mark, this one might be for you, but should we see an uptick or maybe an unusual uptick in cash flow in the first quarter or first half just related to the wind down of OAW?
Brent, I think that Q1, you know, will have a little bit of boomerang from OAW, but I expect the bulk of that in Q2, actually, because our activities are winding down, but they're still in place into Q1. Plus Q1, you know, the government doesn't work for whatever reasons. They seem to be a little slower in Q1, not really related to CR, but just you know, seasonality, if you will. We've historically had a pretty light Q1. I would expect that to be largely the case this year on the government side.
STS is different and that smooths things out a little bit, but I do expect Q2 to rebound really strongly as well as Q3 and four, and to have you know consistent results with maybe Q1 being the lower of the four after that.
Okay, thank you. Best of luck.
You bet. Thank you.
All right. Up next, we will hear from Sean Eastman with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. Stuart, in the Q&A, you mentioned that you don't need to do acquisitions to be trending to the high end of the 2025 target ranges. Obviously, a noteworthy statement there. I just wanted to clarify, does that comment include, you know, or contemplate, HomeSafe, or would you be able to say that even if we sort of set HomeSafe aside?
That excludes HomeSafe. I think when HomeSafe, we get through the protest period, we're gonna have to adjust those targets upwards, Sean.
Yep. Okay. Helpful. You know, obviously HomeSafe takes GS into sort of a breakout scenario. I'm wondering how close we are to a potential breakout in STS. It just seems like the bookings were super solid over the last 12 months. It seems like fundamentals firmed. How would you characterize that, Stuart?
I mean, in most companies, a double-digit growth with an increase in margin would be called a breakout, Sean.
Yeah. You already set that expectation.
Yeah, I've set that expectation. I mean, I don't wanna get over our skis. As you know, we like to give, you know, targets that are achievable, and we work hard to do better. I think we'll stick with a double-digit revenue growth and our margins going up. You know, but you're right, the market fundamentals are terrific. I can't see the market changing over the midterm anyway, you know, just, I think, societal pressure and just what's going on across the world will ensure that those markets are strong for the foreseeable future. Of course, you know, things do happen, but right now it's that that's a statement I'm prepared to make.
If that changes, obviously we'll have to realign. Yeah, it's a terrific business. As Mark said, it's been. You know, we've kind of downplayed the performance a little bit through the year because this was the first year of really new STS. Let's face it, they absolutely knocked it out of the park. Not only that, they've done it by actually working off these EPCs at the same time and delivered amazing customer satisfaction. I think we're very well-positioned. We've got a terrific set of IP across the portfolio and, you know, obviously I would be delighted if they did better than the numbers we set out. A good try, but I'm not gonna be drawn into saying anything above what we've guided.
It's really exciting and the culture and the upbeat momentum just around the business and the people out in the marketplace is fantastic.
Got it. A lot of adjectives I can pick up on there. Thanks, Stuart. I'll turn it over.
Yeah. I know. There's no shortage of adjectives, I get that.
All right. Up next, we'll take a question from Andy Kaplowitz with Citigroup. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone.
Morning, Andy.
Morning, Andy.
Stuart, can you maybe give us a little more color regarding your self-help focus in sustainable tech? I mean, we know about, you know, your long-term guide. You just talked about sort of the markets. But, you know, the goal is to get the high teens, I guess, in the business and the legacy projects continue to wind down. How difficult is it to sort of, you know, get your costs down over time as you ramp the business, given inflation and supply chain concerns? You know, just give us an update.
Yeah. I mean, I think the self-help, the fulsomeness of self-help really came through in 2021 and, well, really late 2020. Truth is we readjusted our cost base for the future and realigned our market position. I think we do have a business that's 100 years old with a level of complexity that matches that tenure. As we unwind that complexity, you know, whether it's entity reduction and just alignment of becoming a slicker business, we actually see some efficiencies coming through that are helping us offset any inflationary pressure and things like that. We're not concerned with our guide on margins. We feel that we're very strongly positioned in that sense.
As the mix changes in that business, the margin pressure upwards is clear. Whether that's from selling IP or really just the higher end advisory engineering work that we're doing today is in high demand. As a consequence of that, it supports, I guess, higher pricing, which again mitigates any inflation risk, et cetera. We're mostly in a cost reimbursable environment when we're providing services. I think we've got some very strong mitigants against inflation. In terms of supply chain, we're not really seeing any pressure there from what we supply in terms of proprietary products. You know, it's a limited set.
We've got, you know, pretty solid providers that we've had for many years, you know, and these are, you know, reasonably standard kit for us now. Again, no real concern there. You know, they're mostly, you know, component parts. There's no chips in them or anything like that where there's a lot of supply chain pressure today, as you know. I think we're seeing that piece work reasonably well. Again, we had a strong look at the inflationary risk and things like that, and we think it's minimal across KBR. We had a very strong look at the supply chain risk given what's happening in the world.
Again, I think we've mitigated that to a great extent given the risk profile of that business. So all up again, the fact that we're sitting here today confidently predicting double-digit growth and margin enhancement, and we're standing by that commitment, given the dynamics in the world, I think proves that out.
Thanks for that. Stuart, maybe following up on an earlier question, are clients dusting off some of the sort of energy and chemical projects, you know, from a couple years ago as these higher commodities prices have occurred? Sort of what's the trade-off for as you talk to customers between sort of accelerating energy transition now versus, we'll call it these old economy projects?
Yeah. I think most of the traditional energy companies have been very honest and clear that they need to continue to invest in traditional projects to generate the cash flow required to actually decarbonize and become more aligned with a sustainable future. I think we're seeing just that. But as these new projects are being dusted off, there is a greater emphasis on energy efficiency. There's greater focus on changing product mix for future demand, et cetera. We are seeing elements coming through of that, but you know, accelerating in that arena. I think we got the question earlier really about the increase in demand for our services as a consequence of that market dynamic, and we're absolutely seeing that.
Appreciate it.
All right. Now we'll hear from Steven Fisher with UBS. Please go ahead.
Hey, guys. Morning.
Morning.
Just as we think about 2022, and this may have been addressed somewhat so far, but
Could you give us some color as to which technology is going to be the biggest driver of earnings growth in 2022? Also same thing with new awards for 2022?
Yeah. On the STS side, I mean, it's quite interesting, Steven. As we perform through 2021, the first half of the year was really, you know, everyone was talking about hydrogen and ammonia and really the bulk of our performance is actually driven across olefins and green refining. As we came to the latter part, I think the hydrogen ammonia market kinda caught up and awards started to come through in that arena. That momentum is continuing into 2022. That has not stopped the momentum in the olefins market nor in the green refining market.
You know, as I said before, we've got over 70 technologies in our portfolio, and they ebb and flow a little bit, but the key ones I think going into next year are olefins, obviously ammonia. We think the plastics recycling momentum will continue. Obviously, you know, as people are trying to reduce their carbon footprint, things like growers and things like that in the green refining area will continue to be in high demand. It's not a single answer, and I think that's a good thing because there's no concentration risk in that sense.
I think that ultimately the portfolio is global as well, so it's really across geographies and we're seeing, you know, an uptick in activity in North America right now, which, you know, wasn't the case a few years ago, so that's terrific. I think it really is an amazingly robust business and one that, you know, will deliver the growth that we set out because of those factors.
Got it. Thank you.
There are no further questions in queue. I'll turn the call back to Stuart Bradie for additional or closing remarks.
Again, thank you very much for your interest and your questions this morning. I mean, we couldn't be more delighted in our 2021 performance. It was an absolutely terrific year for all the things we've talked about on the call. We couldn't be more excited about the future either. I think that really there's a lot to be upbeat about, not just where we're positioned, not just our guidance, but I guess the whole market dynamic and the fact that we've got HomeSafe Alliance potentially coming through at the end of Q1. It's not often I'm all upbeat, but I'm pretty well all upbeat today and really looking forward to a really terrific year.
Obviously, as the COVID restrictions ease, I look forward to seeing hopefully many of you face-to-face as we up our engagement with the investment community. We view you as strategic, you know, stakeholders in KBR. We look forward to seeing you more in 2022. Thank you very much.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call. We thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.